What if we could meet Jesus again for the first time?
The Jesus we know is the resurrected, exalted Son of God, very God of very God, worthy of glory and honor and praise. We all say "Amen!" to that affirmation of faith.
Yet, there is another side to Jesus that we must not forget. It is this very human Jesus that we meet in the four Gospels. It is this Jesus who came to show us God's love. it is this Jesus who died to set us free. It is to this Jesus that I dedicate this blog.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

In our day and age, no matter how high the standards of living reach or how physically comfortable we try to become; true peace of heart still does not exist. On the contrary, each individual feels some kind of fear, a deep seated restlessness within him or herself.
These are all indications of the soul's pressure on the body, warning the person of the wrong path that he or she has chosen to follow. Hence, some kind of grievous depression or anxiety makes the person worry and feel sad, but without a clear reason. These are all signs of the soul's distress and the effect of the heart's discomfort in a person, due to his/her not paying attention to the Soul's nutritional needs and instead focusing on strictly human material matters.
Furthermore, many of us today are deceived into thinking that more material things actually give us the strength to satisfy that cry from within us; that cry that says, "If I could just get others to like and accept me, I'd be happy …" or "If I could just get someone to say something good about me, tell me I look better, or am better than so and so…" or "If I were rich and had power or influence it would be enough…" Do you hear and allow yourself to be burdened down by that inner cry for strength? If you had all the wealth, power, position, favor, or publicity, would it ever be enough? No. And neither would you possess the inner strength or real joy that your soul craves. Even if you should become King or Queen of the entire world, without satisfying the needs of your Soul, it wouldn't be very long before you'd again be asking, "Is this all there is…?" "Is there any more?"
Material things are never enough because they do not strengthen your inner being (i.e. your soul) or satisfy the craving within which causes people to reach out for possessions, fortune and fame, drugs, alcohol, self-gratification etc, all in an attempt to satisfy the Soul.
The soul is something that in the end does not depend on material things.
When in an attempt to gain a level of comfort, people become excessive in any area of their life, be it excessive jewelry, clothing, purchases, habits, etc. they only receive a temporary calm to satisfy and soothe that inner cry for real joy which originates from within. The next day, the next week, or some other time later, that cry starts over again. Only this time a bit louder and a bit more urgent.
Perhaps also, we then try to throw ourselves into religion believing that this will satisfy our soul. We become involved in many activities of the particular church we attend thinking that we will find happiness and rest for our soul. This seems to be good, but it is just another part of being busy. This, too, can become just an additional burden. We again think by being busy in these good activities, we will find peace in our soul. Wrong again. We have still missed the point of the needs of the soul. We have again missed the discovery that our soul does not need things or activities to be at peace, we just need relationship with Jesus. That relationship requires us not to be busy, but to be still and at rest and to listen. We cannot develop relationships if we do not spend time with the object of our relationship. We need to be in conversation, spending time, learning to understand this person with whom we desire a relationship.
So it is with Jesus. We need to take time to rest, reflect, and pray (the way to conversation with Jesus). We must also know that we cannot have peace of soul without his assistance. We cannot do it on our own. This is the meaning of the term "rest in God". Stop your constant need to be active and take the time just to be with Jesus. His invitation is very clear to all of us.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."
(Matthew 11:28-30)